Part 2: Varieties of Theatrical Experience
Awareness of past theatrical practices:
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Enriches current and future practices
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Enlightens us to cultural assumptions and values of
various times and places
Chapter 4: Festival Theatre
Greek, Roman, and Medieval Theatrical Experiences
Until the 16th century, Western Theatre:
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Performed primarily at festivals
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Financed by community
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Performed by community
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Occurred for brief periods each year
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Presented as offering to a god
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Presented for enjoyment of general public
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Flourished in Greece, Rome, medieval Europe
The Theatre of Ancient Greece
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Origins of Western Theatre traced to Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greek Beliefs:
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Humans can make significant decisions
Democracy
Not all people are equal: Greeks kept slaves and denied
women any public role in society
Happiness depends upon harmony between human and
supernatural forces
Numerous gods: conceived of as immortal human beings
with flaws
The Theatre of Ancient Greece
Greek Drama:
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Emphasizes attempts of humans to control own destinies
Tragedies often focus on results of attempting to escape fate
Presented exclusively at festivals honoring the god Dionysus
= god of wine and fertility
Festivals:
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By 5th century, Athens held 4 festivals per year in honor of
Dionysus
3 of 4 festivals included theatrical performances
Major Festival = City Dionysia
City Dionysia
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Religious and Civic celebration
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534 B.C. first recorded contest for Best Tragedy
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Winner Thespis
Competition
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3 dramatists compete
Each presents 3 tragedies and 1 satyr play
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satyr play = short, comic play poking fun at a Greek myth using a chorus
of satyrs (half-man/half-goat characters)
5 days of performances
Performances started at dawn and probably lasted all day
Plays open to everyone, but primary audience - men and boys
City Dionysia
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3 tragedies x 3 playwrights = 9 tragedies per City Dionysia
9 tragedies x 100 years = 900 tragedies during 5th century B.C.
32 plays have survived
All 32 plays written by 3 dramatists:
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Aeschylus (523-456 B.C.)
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Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)
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Euripides (480-406 B.C.)
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex often considered the best
The Theatre of Dionysus
Location: slope of hill beneath Athenian Acropolis
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Theatron = “seeing place”
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Stadium-like stone seats
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Capacity = 14,000-17,000
Orchestra = “dancing place”
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Main performance space
Circular
65 ft. in diameter
The Theatre of Dionysus
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Thymele = alter to Dionysus
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Originally located at center of orchestra
Scholars believe it was later moved to behind the skene
Skene = hut or tent
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Located on side of orchestra, opposite the audience
May have been used for costume changes
Gradually developed into large structure
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75-100 ft. long
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Possibly 2 stories high
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Possibly had 3 doors
The Theatre of Dionysus
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Paradoi = spaces between skene and auditorium
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Eccyclema = wheeled platform
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Used for choral entrances and exits
Used because acts of violence could not be shown onstage
Rolled or pushed into the performance space to show
consequences of violent acts (such as slain characters)
Machina = crane-like device
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Used to “fly” gods into the performance space
Deus ex Machina (God from the machine) = contrived ending
The Performers
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4 Categories of Performers:
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Actors
2.
Chorus
3.
Supernumeraries
4.
Musicians
The Performers
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Actors:
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All performers were male
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By 430 B.C., only 3 speaking actors allowed in competition
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Actors played multiple roles
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Each playwright was assigned a Principal Actor
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Principal Actor eligible to win “Best Tragic Actor”
The Performers
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The Chorus
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Composed of 15 men
Playwright applied to government official for a chorus
Playwright was assigned a choregus
choregus = wealthy citizen who paid for training and
costuming; high civic honor; wealthy citizens required to take
turns serving as choregus
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Chorus assigned approximately 11 months prior to festival
Trained like athletes
The Performers
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Choral Conventions:
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Chorus as one of the distinctive features of Greek Theatre
Usually performed in unison
Sometimes broke into 2 subgroups that responded to each other
Chorus leader sometimes had solo lines
Chorus entered after Prologue
Chorus performed Choral Odes
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The Performers
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Functions of the Chorus:
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Formed a collective character who expressed opinions, gave
advice, and occasionally threatened to interfere in the action
Often seemed to express the author’s point of view
Served as the ideal spectator, reacting as the author wanted the
audience to react
Helped to establish mood and to heighten dramatic effects
Added color, movement and spectacle through singing and
dancing
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The Performers
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Musicians:
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Principal musician = flute player
Entered before chorus and remained onstage throughout
performance
Used a clapper on one sandal to keep time
Was likely the composer of the music
Virtually no music has survived
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The Performers
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Masks:
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All performers except musicians wore masks
Distinctive convention of Greek Theatre
Masks covered entire head and included hair/headdress
Function of Masks:
Facilitated rapid change of roles
Enabled male performers to embody female characters more
easily
Helped actors to assume different types of roles
Assisted communication by capturing and emphasizing
essential character qualities
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The Performers
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Costumes:
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Variety of clothing used
Costume likely determined by
appropriateness to role
Use of chiton = ankle-length or
knee-length garment that served
as usual dress in Greece
Soft, flexible, high-topped boots
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Formalized Conventions of Greek Theatre
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Group of performers formed chorus
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One actor often played multiple roles within same play
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Men played both male and female roles
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Performers wore masks and character appropriate
dress
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Performers sang, chanted and danced much of the text
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Theatre’s scale prevented small details from being seen
Oedipus Rex and its Performance
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Play Structure:
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Prologue: devoted to exposition
Parados: chorus enters
4 Episodes: move forward in present, while continuing to reveal
elements of exposition
Choral Odes: used to separate episodes
5th Episode: divided into 2 parts
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Messenger Scene
Final Scene
Oedipus Rex and its Performance
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Characterization & Acting:
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Concerned primarily with Psychological and Ethical aspects of
character
Characterization drawn with a few bold strokes
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All speaking roles performed by 3 actors
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Probable distribution of roles:
Actor #3
Priest
Tiresias
Actor #2
Jocasta
Actor #1
Creon
Shepherd
Oedipus
1st Messenger
2nd Messenger
Oedipus Rex and its Performance
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Characterization & Acting:
3 speaking actors
Chorus size = 15
Many supernumeraries
required
Total cast size = 35 minimum
Oedipus Rex and its Performance
Themes:
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Themes of the play have universal relevance
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Uncertainty of human destiny
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Limited ability of humans to control their fate
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Blindness versus sight (physical sight and inner sight)
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Finding a scapegoat
Concern with moral taboos: incest, patricide
Greek Comedy
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Became official part of festivals about 50 years after
tragedy
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Performed at 2 festivals: City Dionysia and Lenaia
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5 playwrights competed annually at Lenaia, each
presenting 1 play
Greek Comedy
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Conventions:
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Usually concerned with current issues
Sometimes used mythological material
Chorus size = 24
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Not always identical in appearance
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Sometimes depicted as citizens, sometimes as nonhumans
Male characters made to appear ridiculous
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Costume suggested partial nakedness
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Wore large phallus
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Wore masks
Greek Comedy
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Plays:
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Only 11 Old Comedy plays have survived
All surviving plays by Aristophanes
Old Comedy plots revolve around a “happy idea”
Time and place may change frequently
Unity through idea rather than through causally related events
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Characters may speak to or about the audience
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Greek Comedy
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Play Structure:
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Prologue: introduction of “happy idea”
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Parados: entrance of chorus
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Agon: debate over merits of the “happy idea”
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Parabasis: choral passages
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Episodes: showing “happy idea” put into practice
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Komos: exit to feasting and revelry
The Roman Theatre Experience
Ludi = “games”
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Religious festivals that included theatrical performances
Theatrical performances honored several gods
Theatrical performances considered diversions, like sports
Borrowed from Greek drama, but adapted it to Roman tastes
Romans preferred variety entertainments
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short comic plays
dancing, singing
juggling, acrobatics
gladiatorial contests
The Roman Theatrical Context
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Production Expenses: paid by state
Performance Spaces:
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Tiered seating, capacity of several thousand
Semicircular orchestra, not used by performers
Long, narrow stage, 5 ft. high
Stage enclosed by scaenae frons = façade
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3 doors on back wall; 1 door at either end
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Second story with windows
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Open seating, free admission
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Costumes: Greek costumes and masks; color symbolism
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Performers: all male
Roman Comedy
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Plays:
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Surviving comedies = 26
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All surviving plays by Plautus and Terence
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Deal with everyday domestic affairs
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Plots turn on misunderstandings
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Most famous character = “clever slave”
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Include music; some characters sing
The Menaechmi
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Written by Plautus
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Perhaps most popular surviving Roman Comedy
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Basis for Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors
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Characters as types rather than individuals
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10 roles, performed by 6 actors; doubling of roles was
common
Other Roman Drama and Theatre
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Roman Tragedy:
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Mime:
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Surviving tragedies = 9
All surviving plays by Seneca
Favorite form of entertainment
First time women were permitted to perform
No masks
Dramatic action centered on sexual encounters
Blood Sports:
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Gladiatorial contests
The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages
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Middle Ages:
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Early = A.D. 900-1050
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High = A.D. 1050-1300
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Late = A.D. 1300-1500
liturgical drama
vernacular drama
The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages
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Liturgical Drama
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2 Types:
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Performed primarily in churches or monasteries
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Earliest example = A.D. 970
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Dramatizes Biblical episodes
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Text sung in Latin
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Financed by church
Religious plays performed outside of church = A.D. 1200
The Revival of Drama in the Middle Ages
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Vernacular Drama
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Religious drama independent of church = A.D. 1375
Written in vernacular language
Text spoken
Financed by community
Trade Guilds and the Corpus Christi Festival
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Outdoor religious dramas in England
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Connected to Trade Guilds
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Church created new feast day in 1311: Corpus Christi
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All Biblical events could be connected with this festival
Trade Guilds and the Corpus Christi Festival
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Central feature: procession through town, like parade
= Processional Staging
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People of all ranks and professions involved
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Plays dramatizing the Bible from creation to doomsday
= Cycle Plays
Conventions of Medieval Theatre
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Time:
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Contrast of eternal versus earthly
time
Stage:
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Depicts heaven at one end and hell
at the other end
Could be fixed or mobile
Scenic structures to indicate place =
mansion
Undifferentiated space = platea
Conventions of Medieval Theatre
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Costumes:
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Distinguish inhabitants of Earth, Heaven, Hell
Earthly characters = contemporary clothes
Heavenly characters = church garments
Special Effects:
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Gruesome hell mouth
Realistically staged miracles
The Wakefield Cycle
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Manuscript contains cycle of 32 plays: Creation through Last
Judgment
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Playwrights: multiple, anonymous
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Production as community effort, involving: town council,
church, trade guilds
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Processional staging, using pageant wagons that each
carried one or more mansions
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All actors were male
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Guilds were assigned plays related loosely to their
professions
The Wakefield Cycle
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Performance started at 5:00 am
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Performance required all daylight hours for completion
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All work suspended on performance day
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Most spectators stood to watch performance
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Atmosphere as festive but reverent
Noah and His Sons
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3rd play in Wakefield Cycle
Story of Noah and the Ark
Action divided into 3 parts:
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Opening scene: exposition
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Noah and wife bickering
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Ship building and onboard
9 roles: 3 major, 6 minor
One mansion required: ship
Simple costumes
Other Medieval Theatre and Drama
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Morality Plays:
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Farces:
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Allegories of moral temptations
Most famous play: Everyman
Served as transition between medieval religious drama and secular
drama of Shakespeare’s time
Secular comic drama: emerged 13th century
Not encouraged officially
Emphasized ridiculous aspects or human behavior
Example: Pierre Patelin
Interludes:
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Nonreligious, serious or comic; performed between parts of
celebration